Week 41 - Produce a book (Part 2)

Some of the columns try to add humor to serious topics.

     OK, we are taking the next step in the effort to publish a book of some of the columns I wrote in 38 years at the Charleston and Mattoon newspapers.
     A few months ago, we wrote that we were starting to go through some of the columns that we wanted to use in a book to be distributed to family members.
     At that time, I said that I had written more than 3,000 columns and editorials. I still had access to about 1,200. Cheryl and I have gone through that batch and now have picked out 109 columns that we would like to put together in book form.
     I searched the Internet and found a half-dozen publishers that I thought sounded like they could do a small, family-only book such as I want to do.
     A printer in Charleston I have worked with said he could not do a job as large as this -- probably 300 pages in a normal 6-inch by 9-inch book. So I spoke with a publishing rep in New York and with one in Indiana. Another one said his firm could do a nice book for me for $4,000 to $5,000! I love all my family but that seemed a bit pricey to pay for a book even for my loved ones!!
    I ended up going back to my local printer and worked out a deal. He will do the page design work and a printing company in Champaign will print and bind the book in paperback, still with about 300 pages. I can go up to the printing office here in Charleston and "supervise" the process and proof it as we go.
     I think the final product will be fine, and I like getting to be a part of the process.
     So -- we are at the next stage. I will get the 109 columns and a few photos scanned and get them to the printer and we will see how it goes.
     Cheryl and I have had a blast looking at the old columns and picking out ones we think our family will like, too. Most of the columns are of a personal nature -- about our kids, grandkids, parents, growing up in Ottawa and some(!) of the stupid things I have done over the years.
     There also are a few general columns, such as the one partially shown above -- a column I did when media bashing was in vogue in Illinois, written in the year 2000.
     I don't know how long it will take to get this book off the presses and into your hands, but Cheryl and I will keep you posted. We certainly have had fun reminiscing and re-discovering columns we had forgotten about.